OK,

I am about to do my brakes on my X for the 5th time. I tow a huge boat....

42ft welcraft scarab topping the scales at 12,000 lbs loaded!!

21 ft checkmate 2500 lbs loaded

so I burn through the front pads and rotors. At anyrate I am SO TIRED OF brake pulsations after 6 months to a year. I have tried ATE rotors, PBR, Zimmerman, wbr, and a couple of other brands. I run ceramic pads for better stopping and less rim mess.

I am thinking of trying a slotted rotor or drilled rotor or even a slotted and drilled rotor. But I have no idea what brand to buy. I dont care about the cost at this point. I just want the best darn rotor I can buy to prevent the darn pulsations! Please advise with your experience and where I can buy them!! If Im gonna do the fronts, Im doing the rears, so If I put slotted and drilled on the front, the rears are getting em too. ALso im doing all new calipers, since I have a life time warranty on all four.

 

DEFINATELY NOT A DRILLED ROTER!!!

A drilled rotor will crack and fail on you at the worst time, escpecially considering your load. They are for racing, not hauling.

A cryo'd rotor, slotted or unslotted, might help, as they relieve the hard spots in the castings somewhat. The hard spots are a small part of the warpage problems.

One thing, are the caliper pins lubricated properly? Just a thing to check. The slotted will not fix the warp problem though.


Aside from that, if all else is good, I have to ask if you are running a straight hydraulic braking system on the trailer.

If you are, then the valving on it is probably not putting enough braking on the trailer wheels and causing the Excursions' brakes to take too much load.

The proper trailering setup is for the trailer to brake itself, transferring very little braking to the truck.

Consider getting a electric over hydraulic setup to allieviate the problem.

Edit: Also, do you have brakes on all of the trailer axles? You should have brakes on at least 2 axles with that load.

 

The trailer has surge brakes, its a boat trailer. I know the brakes work because I can feel em kick. The trailer has brakes, it was designed for the boat, but ya know I have never looked at the axles and looked to see if brakes are on one or more axles.

I think Im staying away from the drilled. LOL I read a huge post about the drilled rotors cracking, and I dont need that happening going down a mountain pass. LOL.

I just want the best rotor for my money, Not really caring what the cost is. The caliper pins are not frozen... have been before, thus replacement of all four calipers with life time warranty. Thats why when i do brakes, I just do all four.... I have a lift available and technicians that work for me. So what is the best rotor I can buy to avoid the hot spots and warping??

 

What lifetime caliper are you using?

 

With a boat that heavy I would definately recommend changing over to an electric over hydraulic braking system, that will help alot.

 

These

High Performance Brake Pads and Brake Rotors - Frozen Rotors

 

Like Bion (Housedad) strongly suggested, look seriously at your trailer brakes to make sure they are functioning properly. 12,000lbs is a lot of mass.

Now, since cost is not a factor for you, if I had your problem (which I did), I would just buy a set of cryo treated Powerslot rotors (ART rotors are another choice) and a set of Hawk LTS or Superduty pads. Hawk Performance Brake Pads: Super-Duty Truck

EBC greenstuff pads are a great alternative to the Hawk pads and work just as well, if not better.

Stewart

 

The Hawk SuperDuty pads are great! Extra stopping power when towing and doesn't make the vehicle grabby when running around empty. I have them on all four corners of my Excursion. Put them on for when I was towing heavy loads like what you are talking about.

I have the non-cryo treated Powerslot slotted rotors up front and they have held up well to heavy loads. I'm sure the cryo treated ones would be even better.

I towed over 30k miles with this setup with no problems. Most of those miles where even stop-and-go in-town driving and still no problems. I've had it like that for about 1.5 years now. Still drives great.

 

autozone calipers. They got fords stamp on them

 

Ok I think ill go with the powerslot cryos. The boat im towing is a cigarette style.... welcraft scarab, 42 ft, twins pushing 1000hp at the props.

I had electric brakes on a previous go fast boat trailer and they were nothing but problems, components corroded, etc.

The X pulls the big boat through the mountains with some high RPMS... A year ago going down hill through the mountains in VA my wife swears the rotors were glowing red but thats a steeeeeeep decline.

 

AGREE!

03 EX LTD, we have a race rig when fully loaded is around 12K, golf cart , dragster, fuel etc... I have run the powerslot cryo's and Hawk LTS Truck pads. Superduty pads rock but at the time I replaced the oe's only LTS were avilable. I have run the crap out of these towing 50-60 miles every Sunday and 200 miles every other Saturday during racing season (april-September). No issues.

I agree that the trailer brakes with a load this heavy needs to be addressed. Hauling that big with an EX will grind and heat those brakes fast if the tow rig is doing the majority of the braking..

My .2 cents..

Good luck man.

 

electric over hydraulic is different. The electric only controls a hydraulic cylinder at the tongue

 

I also vote for Powerslot Cryo'd rotors and Hawk LTS pads. I tow a 10,500 lb trailer with no problems.

However, I think your problem is your trailer brakes. Surge brakes also need adjustment. Just because you feel them does not mean they are contributing much.

Even straight electric brakes (like my trailer) can be made to work acceptably with a good controller. I use a Prodigy, but am considering a controller that taps into brake hydraulic pressure to set voltage for trailer brakes.

 

here goes the rotor debate again .. oh p.s. im using the $300 brakemotive slotted and drilled rotors from ebay
there awesome and work well .. i towed a 25 foot trailer every day for 3 months now and there still stopping efectivly .. unlike the oem pieces of crap that warp after one stop

 

Maybe this is a given, but have you verified the surge brakes are working properly and adjusted? We just found out 2 of our 5 SAR trailers had surge brake issues - namely the piston seal was out and we were braking with 100% of it coming from the tow vehicle on one and the other wasn't adjusted "tight" enough.

...the day I slid halfway through an intersection in the rain in my Expedition with a loaded trailer made me reflect on life in general ...and when I found out I was doing all the braking I reflected on how I was going to dismember and dispose of the maintenance tech that "inspected" and "approved" the trailer for use!